Astonishing Comfort
by Brockster550
Summary: An AU story taking place before Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry spends some time pondering his thoughts, until he indirectly crosses paths with a certain part-veela named Gabrielle Delacour.


_Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the wonderful world of Harry Potter, I just own this one-shot. No copyright intended!_

 **Author's note 1: A Harry/Gabby one-shot. This story will take place at the Burrow before Bill and Fleur's wedding ceremony. No horcruxes, no Voldemort, Dumbledore won't be dead, some implied Dumbledore bashing and implied Ginny bashing. Since this is an AU one-shot, George won't have his ear lost. Gabby will be closer to Harry's age. Rated T.**

Astonishing Comfort

fanfic by Brockster550

Harry Potter, a recently-turned seventeen year old wizard was irritated. It was 12:30 PM of August 1st, the day of Bill and Fleur's wedding. Normally, Harry would enjoy moments like these, as it's always good to be happy for your friends when special occasions occur. Harry was over by the Weasley's broom shed, sitting with his back leaning against it. What had him irritated was that Ginny Weasley, the youngest Weasley sibling kept giving Harry a well-too-known look, the look that fangirls had the tendency to give him. Harry knew Ginny was more than just a typical fangirl, she was a fanatic one, too. Harry knew she had a crush on him for a long, long time, but he suspected that she had a crush on him as The-Boy-Who-Lived, not Harry as a person. Harry would never think about hitting on her because it would be like trying to flirt with his own sister, and plus he didn't want to jeopardize his friendships with Ron, Fred, George, Bill and Charlie. As far as Harry knew, Percy was still estranged from the family. Still, Ginny was delusional, likely a little too delusional because she would never accept the fact that Harry never reciprocated the feelings she had for him.

Harry was also mad at Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore because the headmaster of Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft Wizardry was still adamant on Harry staying with the Dursleys, despite Harry being of age in the wizarding world, though Dumbledore did allow Harry to attend Bill and Fleur's wedding. No matter how hard he tried persuading, Albus remained firm. Harry also couldn't get Dumbledore to reveal why he wanted him to return to the Dursleys. Dumbledore only said that it was for the Greater Good, but Harry realized that it was a futile attempt to keep trying, so he had little choice but to give up. Harry was too engrossed within his thoughts that he didn't hear footsteps approaching him.

"Hello, Harry!" said a sweet voice coming from his right.

Harry jumped in surprise as he snapped back into reality. His initial thought was that it was Ginny, knowing that she may be looking for him and that she may have succeeded. Upon turning to his right, Harry realized that it wasn't Ginny after all, which was a relief to him. It was Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's little sister. Harry hadn't seen her since the Triwizard Tournament, as she was Fleur's hostage for the second task, in which Harry saved Gabby's life when Fleur had been unable to get to Gabby due to her encounter with the grindylows. Gabrielle (or Gabby for short) was giving Harry a bright smile and she was wearing a gold dress, with her platinum-blonde hair in double french braids, and she _was_ pretty. She appeared to be fifteen or sixteen. Like Fleur, Gabby was quarter-veela, which meant that Fleur and Gabby were humans, but they have veela traits and one of them was having extreme beauty, which made most boys unable to keep their eyes off of them. Harry wasn't affected by the veela allure, something that was a relief for both Fleur and Gabby.

"Hiiiiiii!" said Harry nervously. His heart was still racing because of being jolted back to reality.

"It's good to see you again, Harry!" said Gabby.

"G-G-Good to see you, too, G-Gabby!" said Harry.

"Sorry I made you jump like that." Gabby apologized.

"It's all good," said Harry. "I was just so lost in my thoughts."

"Would you like some company?" Gabby offered. "You look like you need it."

"Sure." said Harry.

So Gabby sat down next to Harry. When she arrived at the Burrow with her mother to help with getting the ceremony ready, she couldn't help but wonder why Harry was sitting by the broom shed, all alone.

"So Harry, was something bothering you?" asked Gabby.

"Yeah, a number of things." said Harry, somewhat hesitantly.

"Would you like to talk about them?" asked Gabby, giving Harry an encouraging smile. "It isn't good to keep things inside."

"Well," said Harry, thinking about it. "That... actually would be nice! I didn't realize that keeping things to yourself is a bad thing."

So Harry told Gabby about his life. How he was treated at the Dursleys, such as being used as a slave, like a human version of a house-elf; how he was used as a human punching bag; how he was given unrelenting beatings, whether it was something very minor, or if Dudley started it and lied; how he was forbidden to ask any questions; how he was alone and friendless before Hogwarts; how he had many eyes staring at him because of his fame; how he was kept ignorant of the wizarding world; how his aunt and uncle lied to him about the cause of his parents' deaths; and how he was treated like an object, as well as a puppet. Gabby had tears flowing out of her eyes as Harry explained his story.

Likewise, Gabby began telling Harry about her life in return. She explained how she and Fleur were treated like objects because of their veela traits, and how that made it hard to find mates (as well as friends because other girls would get jealous over the veela allure). Harry was stunned once he found out that, in some ways, Gabby's and Fleur's lives were similar to his. He also felt tears welling up as a result. Harry and Gabby gave each other a hug, which was so warm and gentle to Harry. Gabby also felt the warmth and gentleness from Harry's hug.

"Thanks, Gabby," said Harry gratefully. "It felt like a weight just lifted off of my shoulders!"

"You're welcome, Harry," said Gabby, giving Harry another bright smile. "You _sure_ are one-in-a-million because you've never been affected by the veela allure!"

"Well, yeah," said Harry, trying not to brag. "I realized that personality matters more than looks."

"That's another thing that makes you one-in-a-million, Harry," said Gabby. "You always look for inner beauty rather than outer beauty."

"Too bad that statement won't get through to Ginny," said Harry. "She's always had this crush on me, but for my fame rather than for the person I am, from the looks of it!"

"But that's her problem, Harry, not yours," assured Gabby. "She'll soon find that out the hard way."

"Yeah," said Harry. "But another reason I could never date her is because she looks alot like the sister I might've had if my parents were still alive, and trying to flirt with your own sibling... that's just too awkward, especially with the fact that I've been friends with the Weasleys for years!"

"That _is_ a good point," agreed Gabby, who started realizing that she needed to help get the wedding set up. "Maybe we ought to see if anybody needs any help with getting the wedding ready."

"Yeah, we should go offer some assistance," agreed Harry, then he got up and lowered a hand to Gabby. "Want me to help pull you up onto your feet?"

"Sure." said Gabby as she grabbed a hold of Harry's hand.

Then with everything he had, Harry pulled Gabby on to her feet. It seemed to work a little too well because Gabby kind of lost balance, likely because of the high-heels she was wearing. This resulted in her falling forward, gasping at the same time. Harry quickly caught her before she could fall on her chest and amidst the ordeal, Harry and Gabby accidentally grabbed a hold of each other's hands, resulting in them widening their eyes in surprise. They were even blushing, which was getting more and more evident when they made direct eye contact. Harry could see that Gabby's eyes were crystal-blue and likewise, Gabby saw the emerald-green eyes Harry had.

"I'm sorry, Gabby," said Harry. "I didn't mean to hold your hand like that!"

"Don't be, Harry" said Gabby, giving him another bright smile. "For some reason, it felt so good and it felt right, too!"

"Well, would you like me to hold your hand again, while we walk over to the tent where the wedding ceremony will be?" offered Harry.

"I'd like to, Harry!" said Gabby, smiling at Harry once more as she grabbed his hand.

Harry grasped Gabby's hand and the two teens started walking toward the tent to help set the wedding up for Bill and Fleur. Somehow, Harry could anticipate chaos because Ginny wasn't going to like seeing any other girl dancing with him. Ginny's temper would also go off like a powderkeg if she saw Harry and Gabby holding hands.

'Yep,' thought Harry. 'Somebody won't be too happy later on. I know what Ginny will think, but who I may dance with isn't her concern! I just know Gabby will wanna dance with me. I know Hermione will wanna dance with me a little bit, too! If Ginny doesn't like it, well, too bad!'

 _The End!_

 **Author's note 2: I apologize for Gabby's lack of a french accent. It's never been my thing, not only that, but I'm more concerned with making the speaking parts easier to read!**


End file.
